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Star witness Caroline Ellison starts testimony at FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:14:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried took a star turn Tuesday as his former fellow top executive, Caroline Ellison, began testifying against him, immediately blaming her former boyfriend for directing her to commit crimes before his cryptocurrency empire collapsed last November.Ellison’s highly anticipated turn on the witness stand in Manhattan federal court took place just moments before the trial broke for lunch.When she was asked to identify Bankman-Fried in the courtroom, Ellison stood at the witness stand as she scanned the courtroom for a long minute, at first unable to find him, before gesturing his way with a flip of her hand and saying he was “over there wearing a suit.”Bankman-Fried’s appearance has changed dramatically in recent months as he has lost weight and trimmed his well-known wild coif into a tightly cropped look more traditional in the world of finance.In the trial’s second week, Ellison said she committed fraud, conspiracy to co...

Vancouver man, Ben Mizrachi, killed by Hamas in Israel: school head

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:14:52 GMT

VANCOUVER — A 22-year-old Vancouver man has been killed in southern Israel after Hamas militants launched a series of deadly attacks on Saturday. The head of the King David High School in Vancouver confirmed in a Facebook post that former student Ben Mizrachi was gunned down while attending a music festival in southern Israel. The statement from Russ Klein says Mizrachi was larger than life with a big personality. It says a funeral will take place Wednesday in Israel. Vancouver member of Parliament Taleeb Noormohamed says in a statement on social media that Mizrachi, a wonderful young man from his riding, was “found amongst those murdered by Hamas terrorists.”The music festival was attended by thousands of people in the desert near Gaza and was one of many areas that gunmen focused on during their initial attack. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2023.The Canadian Press

Canadian Press NewsAlert: Unifor reaches deal with General Motors

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:14:52 GMT

TORONTO — Unifor says it has reached a tentative agreement with General Motors that follows the pattern agreement it reached with Ford Motor Company last month. More coming.The Canadian Press

Mateo Askaripour’s ‘The Great Hemisphere’ is a novel about power set 500 years from now

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:14:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Mateo Askaripour’s follow-up to his acclaimed debut novel “Black Buck” is a look into the distant future. Dutton, a Penguin Random House imprint, announced Tuesday that Askaripour’s “This Great Hemisphere” is scheduled for release next summer. The novel is set 500 years from now and tells of a society in which some people are born invisible and consigned to second-class citizenship. One invisible person, Sweetmint, embarks on a quest to find her missing brother. ”’This Great Hemisphere’ is a novel about the nature of power, the lengths people will go to in order to gain and maintain it, as well as the almost biological compulsion we all possess to protect those we love,” Askaripour said in a statement. “It is a call to arms for the unseen, a rallying cry for those who are tired of being ignored and forgotten. And, of course, it’s a hell of an adventure.” Askaripour’s “Black Buck,” released in 2021, was a widely pr...

Canada limited in preventing wider Mideast crisis, amid humanitarian plight: experts

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:14:52 GMT

Experts say Canada has limited options as it works diplomatic channels to try preventing clashes in Israel and Palestinian territories from escalating into a wider, regional war.Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says she’s in touch with counterparts in the region, as the fallout from Hamas’s brazen surprise attacks on Israel Saturday threatens to engulf multiple countries.University of Ottawa professor Costanza Musu says that while some countries in the region are offering to mediate talks between Israeli and Palestinian actors, they are likely more concerned with their own geopolitical interests rather than ending the bloodshed, which already has killed at least 1,800 people.She notes that Canada has been a staunch supporter of Israel in recent decades, including when Israeli officials diverge from Ottawa’s official policy of advocating for a two-state solution to the protracted conflict.Musu says Israel’s restrictions on essential services in Hamas-cont...

Four Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies hospitalized, officials say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:14:52 GMT

CASTAIC, Calif. (AP) — Four Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were taken to the hospital Tuesday morning after a fire during a “training incident” north of Los Angeles, authorities said.Few details were immediately available, including the extent of the deputies’ injuries, according to Deputy David Yoo, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s department.A KTLA helicopter over the scene showed firefighters spraying water into the smoking rear of a parked semi trailer.Firefighters were dispatched to the law enforcement training facility, near a county jail, at 9:41 a.m., said Fred Fielding, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. They arrived 11 minutes later to find a blaze but the deputies had already been taken to the hospital.Castaic is roughly 35 miles (55 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles.The Associated Press

Mexico says it has rejected US-funded migrant transit centers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:14:52 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president said Tuesday that he rejected a U.S. request to set up migrant transit centers in Mexico. Neighboring Guatemala has set up one such center, where migrants can apply for U.S. work and refugee visas. But President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has so far rejected a U.S. request to set up sites in Mexico, noting he would prefer to have such centers in countries that are the sources of migration, despite the fact that a considerable number of migrants enter the United States from Mexico.López Obrador said that he would raise the subject in a meeting of Latin American leaders he will host later this month, suggesting that the countries might agree to a common plan on such sites.“We have been looking at setting up sites in Mexico, because they (the United States) have asked for it,” López Obrador said. “We have not accepted it, first we want to talk to the presidents,” referring to the Oct. 22 meeting with the leaders of 11 countries that are on migrati...

Texas prepares for inmate’s execution in hopes that Supreme Court allows it to happen

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:14:52 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas moved ahead with preparations to execute a condemned inmate on Tuesday in the hopes that the U.S. Supreme Court would lift a lower court’s stay and allow the lethal injection to proceed.Jedidiah Murphy, 48, was sentenced to death for the October 2000 killing of 80-year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham during a carjacking.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a federal judge’s order from last week delaying the execution after Murphy’s lawyers questioned the evidence used to sentence him to death.But the state attorney general’s office filed an appeal hours later asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the stay and allow the execution to proceed at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.Normal procedures for the day of an execution were still being followed on Tuesday with Murphy, including final visits, said Amanda Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.Murphy admits that he killed Cunningham, who was fro...

After one week without a House speaker, Republicans appear no closer to choosing a new leader

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:14:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Republican majority is stuck, one week after the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with lawmakers unable to coalesce around a new leader in a stalemate that threatens to keep Congress partly shuttered indefinitely. On Tuesday evening, two leading contenders for the gavel, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, were scheduled to address colleagues behind closed doors at a candidate forum, but they appeared to be splitting the vote. McCarthy, meanwhile, was openly ready to reclaim the gavel he just lost, but was seen by many as a longshot option unlikely to win back the handful of hardliners who just ousted him.“This has been going on for days. Members want to come together,” Scalise said late Monday at the Capitol. “We’ve got to get back on track,” House Republicans took the majority aspiring to operate as a team, and run government more business-like, but have drifted far from that goal. Just 10 months in power,...

Toronto police issue PSA after grenade brought to Scarborough station

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:14:52 GMT

The Toronto Police Service issued a public service announcement urging residents not to bring weapons or ammo to police stations after a grenade was dropped off.A spokesperson said the grenade was brought to 41 Division headquarters in Scarborough at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The explosives unit was forced to intervene.“Please do not turn in guns, ammo, explosives to police stations. Call the police; we will come to you,” TPS wrote on X.The grenade was deemed safe and was removed from the property.No injuries were reported.“If you find [a] gun, ammo, explosive, call 9-1-1. If you’re turning it in, arrange it through 416-808-2222,” TPS added. “We will come to you. Do not bring it to us.”PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTIf you FIND gun, ammo, explosive, call 9-1-1. If you're TURNING IT IN, arrange through 416.808.2222. We will come to you. Do not bring it to us.SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE– Explosives Disposal Unit deemed grenade safe; removed#GO2357...